No longer a Volume Knob Virgin.
A good amp should inspire you to go beyond your comfort zone and try new things.
Well the Deluxe is more than a good amp - it's a great amp and it's a real confidence booster. So, for the first time, at rehearsal tonight, I took a single channel amp and a guitar and that was it. No pedals and none in the boot of the car as backup. .
We have a gig coming up soon which is one of those rare & special ones. Our normal second guitarist Terry can't make it so Neil, our regular dep, is standing in. Neil normally plays a Fender Deville but for this he has asked to borrow my V40H and 2 x 12. So we're going in double Victory V40 (the two amps will look amazing side by side on stage). His plan is to get cleanish tones from the amp plus drive from a Blues Driver and lead boost from a Boss EQ.
Tonight's rehearsal was to warm Neil up to the set and check he was OK with my V40H. This was achieved in spades with Neil's SG sounding much more aggressive than through the Deville and his using the EQ in the front to add extra push and volume resulted in a great, thick, big tone!
My plan was to go in hot, set the Master at solo level and then roll back the volume on the guitar to achieve rhythm volumes and then roll the Bass Contour off to get single coil tones. I had no backup plan just confidence that the Deluxe would deliver. It would all come down to how much Gain is available from the Volume control. So I wind the Volume all the way up to see how much Gain is on tap
Oh Victory you naughty, naughty people.
Volume on 100%, mid kick on, Voice 2, high power, Master at 50%. Bid old A chord. Hairs on my arm stand up. Actually stand up! Where did the monster gain come from!? Its like a secret hidden high gain amp hidden in the last few millimetres of the Volume control.
I dial back the guitar's volume and off we go. Lonely Boy by the Black Keys: great intro and lots of room to find where the best rhythm tone is, and its one hell of a tone. Some Wilko Johnson songs: Bass Contour off - lovely single coil like crispness with a healthy lump of crunch. Bit of a tweak on the Treble control to bring out some sparkle in the Deluxe and it sits in the mix perfectly. The 6L6 powered deluxe doesn't tread on the Blues Driver pushed EL34 powered V40H at all - in fact they seem to complement each other and the twin guitar sections especially sound fantastic!
ZZ Top songs and the volume comes up for solos. Fatness, compression, drive, soaring.leads.. you know all the cliche words. The interesting thing is I hit the bends really easily because of the stunning note clarity. Now I'm smiling like an idiot and having the time of my life!
And this is a "clean" amplifier?
We do one tune that is 3 chords repeated for 5 minutes and is all about the dynamics. Get it wrong and it's 5 very long minutes. Bridge pickup, guitar volume at about half kicks us off. Hit it hard for the big parts and the chords leap out of the amp, play gently and the song softens beautifully. Flick to the neck P90 with the guitar volume on maximum for the throaty middle section and a (cliche alert) creamy thick drive nails what it's supposed to be doing, drop back to the bridge pickup and back off the volume for the big finish.
Apologies if you have anything to do with That Pedal Show... I don't think I need pedals with this amp. I've just had an absolute ball!! I know the Deluxe handles every drive pedal I throw at it, I proved that on Saturday, but it turns out that while it doesn't mind them - it doesn't need them at all. I am shocked, surprised and amazed. Completely was not expecting this.
My plan was to use the Deluxe tonight without pedals for convenience, confident that it would be fine. I didn't expect it to be a such a game changer. Am I to consign my pedals to a dusty corner and wear out my volume knob? Or is there a compromise to be had?
How magnificent would it be to do the big gig with just a guitar and an amp? I am not as scared of that question as I was a few hours ago.
This amp is definitely a beastie with more than one trick up its sleeve and more than one secret to be discovered. I wonder if Victory would mind if I keep this f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶i̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶n̶g̶e̶r̶ to try and discover all it can do.
Simon is a guitarist in Salisbury Classic Rock covers band Break Cover.
Break Cover website
Break Cover Facebook
Well the Deluxe is more than a good amp - it's a great amp and it's a real confidence booster. So, for the first time, at rehearsal tonight, I took a single channel amp and a guitar and that was it. No pedals and none in the boot of the car as backup. .
We have a gig coming up soon which is one of those rare & special ones. Our normal second guitarist Terry can't make it so Neil, our regular dep, is standing in. Neil normally plays a Fender Deville but for this he has asked to borrow my V40H and 2 x 12. So we're going in double Victory V40 (the two amps will look amazing side by side on stage). His plan is to get cleanish tones from the amp plus drive from a Blues Driver and lead boost from a Boss EQ.
Tonight's rehearsal was to warm Neil up to the set and check he was OK with my V40H. This was achieved in spades with Neil's SG sounding much more aggressive than through the Deville and his using the EQ in the front to add extra push and volume resulted in a great, thick, big tone!
My plan was to go in hot, set the Master at solo level and then roll back the volume on the guitar to achieve rhythm volumes and then roll the Bass Contour off to get single coil tones. I had no backup plan just confidence that the Deluxe would deliver. It would all come down to how much Gain is available from the Volume control. So I wind the Volume all the way up to see how much Gain is on tap
Oh Victory you naughty, naughty people.
Volume on 100%, mid kick on, Voice 2, high power, Master at 50%. Bid old A chord. Hairs on my arm stand up. Actually stand up! Where did the monster gain come from!? Its like a secret hidden high gain amp hidden in the last few millimetres of the Volume control.
I dial back the guitar's volume and off we go. Lonely Boy by the Black Keys: great intro and lots of room to find where the best rhythm tone is, and its one hell of a tone. Some Wilko Johnson songs: Bass Contour off - lovely single coil like crispness with a healthy lump of crunch. Bit of a tweak on the Treble control to bring out some sparkle in the Deluxe and it sits in the mix perfectly. The 6L6 powered deluxe doesn't tread on the Blues Driver pushed EL34 powered V40H at all - in fact they seem to complement each other and the twin guitar sections especially sound fantastic!
ZZ Top songs and the volume comes up for solos. Fatness, compression, drive, soaring.leads.. you know all the cliche words. The interesting thing is I hit the bends really easily because of the stunning note clarity. Now I'm smiling like an idiot and having the time of my life!
And this is a "clean" amplifier?
We do one tune that is 3 chords repeated for 5 minutes and is all about the dynamics. Get it wrong and it's 5 very long minutes. Bridge pickup, guitar volume at about half kicks us off. Hit it hard for the big parts and the chords leap out of the amp, play gently and the song softens beautifully. Flick to the neck P90 with the guitar volume on maximum for the throaty middle section and a (cliche alert) creamy thick drive nails what it's supposed to be doing, drop back to the bridge pickup and back off the volume for the big finish.
Apologies if you have anything to do with That Pedal Show... I don't think I need pedals with this amp. I've just had an absolute ball!! I know the Deluxe handles every drive pedal I throw at it, I proved that on Saturday, but it turns out that while it doesn't mind them - it doesn't need them at all. I am shocked, surprised and amazed. Completely was not expecting this.
My plan was to use the Deluxe tonight without pedals for convenience, confident that it would be fine. I didn't expect it to be a such a game changer. Am I to consign my pedals to a dusty corner and wear out my volume knob? Or is there a compromise to be had?
How magnificent would it be to do the big gig with just a guitar and an amp? I am not as scared of that question as I was a few hours ago.
This amp is definitely a beastie with more than one trick up its sleeve and more than one secret to be discovered. I wonder if Victory would mind if I keep this f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶i̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶n̶g̶e̶r̶ to try and discover all it can do.
Simon is a guitarist in Salisbury Classic Rock covers band Break Cover.
Break Cover website
Break Cover Facebook
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